(Tatal ke bawah untuk kenyataan versi BM)
The Johore Mentri Besar, Hasni Mohammad has acted on the Johore Sultan’s advice to convene a meeting of all Johore MPs and State Assembly representatives next week on the Covid-19 pandemic to discuss efforts to strengthen and improve all Federal and State government measures to curb the pandemic.
Hasni said:
“This (discussion) includes increasing the capacity of the existing Covid-19 quarantine and low-risk treatment centre and vaccination centre in Johor.
“Even though the Emergency Ordinance is in force, the state government will ensure that the Johor state secretary and legal adviser will oversee the smooth running of the discussions.”
He said the state government gave an assurance that matters decided in the meeting would be brought to the National Security Council (NSC).
Will the National Security Council meeting later this morning give its blessing to the meeting of all Johore MPs and SAs on the Covid-19 pandemic as proposed by the Johore Sultan and will the Prime Minister, as a Johore State Assemblyman, give a report to the meeting?
It is most shocking that the NSC meeting later today which would decide on whether to impose a “total lockdown” in the country would exclude the Mentri Besars and Chief Ministers, as revealed by the Selangor Mentri Besar Amirudin Shari yesterday.
Where is the “all-of-government” strategy and approach in the war against Covid-19 pandemic if Mentri Besars and Chief Ministers are excluded from the NSC meeting?
Already the nation’s war against the Covid-19 pandemic is suffering badly from the lack of an “all-of-society” strategy and approach, although I had made such a suggestion as far back as May last year. Twelve months elapsed without the government doing anything on the suggestion!
Ideally, the NSC should undo the mistaken and failed policies in the war against Covid-19 pandemic and propose the immediate convening of Parliament and the State Assemblies to establish a parliamentary and State Assembly united front in the war against Covid-19 pandemic where there will be no “no-confidence” motion so as to spearhead a “whole-of-society” national mobilisation of Malaysians to save lives and livelihoods and to restore the country to normalcy.
The NSC should also end all Covid-19 SOP flip-flops and double standards, including an end to all police investigations into the groups of youths who gathered in front of Parliament on April 30 protesting against the suspension of Parliament and the group of youths who held a protest in Parit Raja, Batu Pahat on May 12 and unfurled a large banner with the words “#kerajaangagal” as well as to end all repression and harassment of journalists, protest leaders and various other critics of the government.
The NSC should also prioritise the restoration of public trust and confidence in the national strategy against the Covid-19 pandemic, as no government had such a humongous deficit of public trust and confidence in the history of Malaysia as the Muhyiddin government.
That Malaysia is facing a very dire situation in the Covid-19 pandemic could be gauged from the shocking announcement by the Kedah State Exco for Health and Local Government, Dr. Mohd Hayati Othman, that the authorities would be playing God to decide who lives and who dies.
Hayati said chronically ill patients with little hope of recovery in Kedah will no longer be placed in intensive care units (ICUs), due to the dwindling number of ICU beds available in the state.
This applies to both Covid-19 patients as well as those without Covid-19.
Yesterday we broke the previous day’s record for daily increase of new Covid-19 cases by recording 6,806 new cases, as well as crashed through the 2,000 mark for total Covid-19 fatalities which now stand at 2040 – a horrifying figure.
For nine consecutive days, Malaysia’s daily increase of new Covid-19 cases has exceeded that of Indonesia, justifying the snide remark of the Indonesian authorities that Malaysia and India are nations which should not be emulated as they had mishandled the Covid-19 pandemic!
Malaysia is witnessing an unprecedented surge of Covid-19 cases. In contrast in the United States, the worst nation in the world with the most Covid-19 cases and fatalities, there is a sharp drop in daily increase of new Covid-19 cases, from the peak of daily increase of 304,190 new cases on January 8 to 28,435 cases yesterday – a humongous drop of 91%!
In fact, in the United States, Covid-19 cases were down in all 50 US states for the first time since the pandemic began, causing the senior White House Covid-19 adviser, Andy Slavitt to declare that America was “winning the war on the virus.”
Imagine, the United States beginning to win the war against Covid-19 pandemic while we in Malaysia are beginning to lose the war!
Even India has fallen sharply from the peak of 414,433 cases on May 6 to 276,261 yesterday (May 20) – a sharp drop of 34% in a matter of a fortnight.
What is more unacceptable to Malaysians is that we are even losing out to UK, Italy and Spain, European countries which had been such catastrophes last year in the Covid-19 pandemic.
Yesterday’s daily increase of new Covid-19 cases for UK were 2,696 cases, Italy 5,506 cases and Spain 6,080 cases as compared to Malaysia’s new daily Covid-19 cases of 6,806 cases.
Malaysia holds the dubious record of being ranked No. 42 among nations in the world with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases, but we hold the more dubious record of being ranked No. 12 among countries with the most daily increase of new Covid-19 cases – after India (276,261 new cases), Brazil (79,706), Argentina (39,651), USA (28,435), France (19,050), Colombia (16,579). Iran (12,789), Germany (11,881), Turkey (11.553), Nepal (8,604) and Russia (7,920).
Will the NSC meeting later this morning be prepared for a new start and a new strategy in the war against the Covid-19 pandemic?
(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, May 21, 2021)
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#kerajaangagal55 — Adakah Majlis Keselamatan Negara (MKN) akan membenarkan mesyuarat semua Ahli Parlimen dan Adun Johor diadakan bagi membincangkan mengenai situasi semasa wabak Covid-19 seperti yang dititahkan oleh Sultan Johor semalam dan adakah Perdana Menteri, sebagai Adun Johor, akan memberikan laporan kepada mesyuarat tersebut?
Menteri Besar Johor, Hasni Mohammad telah bertindak atas nasihat Sultan Johor untuk mengadakan mesyuarat melibatkan semua Ahli Parlimen dan Adun Johor pada minggu hadapan bagi membincangkan usaha memperkukuh dan menambah baik segala usaha yang telah dan akan diambil kerajaan Negeri dan kerajaan Persekutuan untuk membendung pandemik.
Hasni berkata:
“Perbincangan ini termasuk bagi meningkatkan kapasiti pusat rawatan dan kuarantin Covid-19 berisiko rendah (PKRC) sedia ada dan pusat pemberian vaksin.
“Walaupun Ordinan Darurat sedang berkuat kuasa, kerajaan negeri akan memastikan Setiausaha Kerajaan dan Penasihat Undang-Undang Negeri Johor memudahkan kelancaran perbincangan itu.”
Katanya, kerajaan negeri memberi jaminan bahawa perkara yang diputuskan dalam mesyuarat itu akan dibawa ke Majlis Keselamatan Negara (MKN).
Adakah Majlis Keselamatan Negara (MKN) akan membenarkan mesyuarat melibat semua Ahli Parlimen dan Adun Johor diadakan bagi membincangkan mengenai situasi semasa pandemik Covid-19 seperti yang diusulkan oleh Sultan Johor menerusi titahnya semalam dan adakah Perdana Menteri, sebagai Adun Johor, akan membentangkan laporan kepada mesyuarat tersebut?
Yang paling mengejutkan adalah mesyuarat MKN hari ini yang akan memutuskan tentang pelaksanaan “sekatan penuh” di seluruh negara, tidak membabitkan Menteri Besar dan Ketua Menteri, seperti yang dinyatakan oleh Menteri Besar Selangor Amirudin Shari semalam.
Di manakah strategi dan pendekatan “keseluruhan kerajaan” dalam perang melawan pandemik Covid-19 jika Menteri Besar dan Ketua Menteri dikecualikan daripada mesyuarat NSC?
Ini lebih-lebih lagi selepas kegagalan dalam melawan pandemik Covid-19 ekoran kurangnya penerapan strategi dan pendekatan melibatkan “keseluruhan masyarakat”, walaupun saya telah memberikan cadangan seumpama itu sejak Mei tahun lalu. Dua belas bulan berlalu tanpa kerajaan menyahut cadangan tersebut!
Sebaik-baiknya, MKN harus membatalkan dasar yang salah dan gagal dalam perang melawan pandemik Covid-19 dan mencadangkan agar sidang Parlimen dan Dewan Negeri segera diadakan untuk membentuk Parlimen dan Dewan Undangan Negeri yang bersatu dalam perang menentang pandemik Covid-19, di mana tidak ada sebarang “usul tidak percaya” untuk menggerakkan usaha mobilisasi kebangsaan yang melibatkan “keseluruhan masyarakat” untuk mengembalikan kehidupan normal dalam negara kita; dan
MKN juga perlu berhenti mengumumkan keputusan yang sering berubah-ubah dan layanan berbeza dalam pelaksanaan SOP, termasuk menghentikan semua siasatan polis terhadap kumpulan anak muda yang berkumpul di hadapan Parlimen pada 30 April bagi memprotes penggantungan Parlimen dan kumpulan anak muda yang mengadakan tunjuk perasaan secara aman di Parit Raja, Batu Pahat pada 12 Mei dan mengangkat sepanduk besar dengan tulisan “#kerajaangagal” serta menamatkan semua penindasan dan gangguan terhadap wartawan, pemimpin protes dan pengkritik kerajaan.
MKN juga harus memberikan keutamaan kepada usaha untuk memulihkan kepercayaan dan keyakinan masyarakat terhadap strategi negara dalam melawan pandemik Covid-19, kerana tidak ada dalam sejarah Malaysia di mana sesebuah kerajaan itu menanggung defisit kepercayaan dan keyakinan masyarakat yang begitu teruk seperti yang dialami kerajaan Muhyiddin hari ini.
Malaysia menghadapi situasi pandemik Covid-19 yang sangat mengerikan, dan ini dapat dirasai menerusi kenyataan mengejutkan Exco Kesihatan Kedah Dr Mohd Hayati Othman bahawa kakitangan perubatan akan terpaksa membuat penilaian cukup berat dalam memilih antara pesakit kritikal dan pesakit Covid-19 yang perlu dimasukkan segera ke ICU.
Hayati berkata, pesakit yang sakit kronik dan tiada harapan untuk sembuh di Kedah tidak lagi akan ditempatkan di unit rawatan rapi (ICU), kerana bilangan katil ICU yang semakin berkurang di negeri itu.
Keadaan ini melibatkan kedua-dua pesakit Covid-19 dan juga bukan pesakit Covid-19.
Semalam, kita memecahkan rekod semalam dengan 6,806 kes baharu Covid-19 dengan angka kematian akibat wabak itu kini memecah 2,040 orang.
Selama sembilan hari berturut-turut, angka kes harian baharu Covid-19 di Malaysia mengatasi Indonesia; sehinggakan Kerajaan Indonesia menggunakan negara kita bersama dengan India sebagai contoh negara yang gagal menguruskan wabak ini dengan baik.
Malaysia menyaksikan lonjakan kes Covid-19 yang belum pernah terjadi sebelumnya. Sebaliknya, di Amerika Syarikat, negara terburuk di dunia dengan kes dan kematian akibat Covid-19 terbanyak, menyaksikan perubahan yang ketara, daripada 304,190 kes baharu pada 8 Januari kepada 28,435 kes semalam – penurunan besar sebanyak 91%!
Di Amerika Syarikat, kes Covid-19 mencatatkan penururan di semua 50 negeri di negara itu untuk pertama kalinya sejak wabak itu tercetus, menatijahkan kenyataan oleh penasihat kanan White House Covid-19, Andy Slavitt yang mengisytiharkan bahawa Amerika telah “memenangi perang terhadap virus tersebut.”
Bayangkan, Amerika Syarikat sudah mula mengisytiharkan kemenangan dalam perang melawan pandemik Covid-19 sementara kita di Malaysia masih teruk dilanda wabak itu!
Bahkan India telah mencatatkan penurunan kes positif Covid-19 daripada 414,433 kes pada 6 Mei kepada 274,030 pada 19 Mei – penurunan mendadak sebanyak 34% dalam masa dua minggu.
Apa yang lebih mengecewakan rakyat Malaysia adalah hakikat bahawa kita telah tewas dengan England, Itali, Sepanyol serta negara-negara Eropah yang teruk dilanda wabak itu pada tahun lalu. Peningkatan kes harian baharu Covid-19 di UK semalam adalah 2,696 kes, Itali 5,506 kes dan Sepanyol 6,080 kes berbanding Malaysia 6,806 kes.
Malaysia berada di kedudukan ke-42 antara negara-negara di dunia dengan jumlah keseluruhan kes positif Covid-19 tertinggi, malah menjadi negara ke-12 di dunia dengan kenaikan kes harian Covid-19 tertinggi selepas India (276,261 kes baru), Brazil (79,706), Argentina (39,651), Amerika Syarikat (28,435), Perancis (19,050), Colombia (16,579). Iran (12,789), Jerman (11,881), Turki (11,553), Nepal (8,604) dan Rusia (7,920).
Adakah mesyuarat MKN pagi ini akan mengorak langkah baharu dalam menerapkan strategi dan pendekatan baharu dalam perang melawan pandemik Covid-19?
(Kenyataan media Ahli Parlimen DAP Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang di Kuala Lumpur pada hari Jumaat, 21 Mei 2021)
